Herban Sprawl

In the course of researching some information, I came across a blog where in 2006, people were expressing their views on flag burning. I thought it was interesting. This is one of those areas where people seem to have very strong opinions. I think, as symbols go, there might be other things I would find much more important to worry about than the flag. However, this is a blog site that is praised by Fox News and the Wall Street Journal. Need I say more?

Nevertheless, I read on and I have to say, the variety of ideas and reasons given for people believing as they did was rather diverse. It also seemed to illustrate for me the idea that there are many shades of grey and many edges that need sharpening, as well as many edges that need to stay sheathed.

One writer said his son was coming home from the service and he was glad, not for the young man’s safety, but because he didn’t think it was worth it for his son to give his life for people who don’t love their country. He then went on to say that there was too much hate.

Okay, kiddo, I do have an opinion about that, and it won’t be the first time we have disagreed on a topic. (Much to my surprise, the respondent had signed his name and I used to know him!)

First of all, I am not in favor of this war because it was all about profiteering. Your son would not be giving his life for our freedom. He would be giving it for the Shrubites who are making millions and millions of dollars on this “event’ while everyday Americans can barely make ends meet.

If people want to burn the flag, they’re going to do it. If teenagers want to make out in the back seat, they’re going to do it. If I want to eat that Heath bar in the cabinet, I’m going to do it. We do what we do.

Your child’s service to this country was actually service to a group of profiteers who used an awful event to launch a war that was not necessary. Meanwhile, they abandoned any efforts to pursue the actual perpetrators of that attack on our people. They used our patriotism for their own ends, and in this case it was to make themselves wealthy beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. In that regard, the people who have shown the most disrespect for what your son has done, are the very politicians you seem to be defending, not those of us who oppose the war.

People like me – liberals - didn’t ask you son to do this for us. We would have preferred he hadn’t. Your son responded to the drumbeat because thought he was doing something worthwhile. No one would have thought less of him had he chosen not to serve - especially not in this particular war. But he did, and now he deserves to be treated with respect, just as anyone who serves in the military does. He did what he thought was right, which shows his own strength of character.

The sad part of this is that it is now, when he returns to his country, that he will be given the short end of the stick. The Veterans’ Administration hospitals are understaffed and cannot handle the influx of vets returning stateside. He will doubtless suffer the torment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and afraid of losing benefits may balk at going to the VA for the help he deserves. There will be other indignities added to that, for this country has not been kind to those who serve. If you doubt me, I know a couple of Gulf War vets you should talk to. And there are a number of Vietnam vets who inhabit the homeless shelters around here who were abandoned by the government just as surely as I am typing this.

This is what I object to. The flag is small potatoes compared to the way our government has tried to weasel out of paying for the medical problems faced by Gulf War vets. The Vietnam vets in particular paid a huge price when they came home from an unpopular war.

You, yourself, were worrying about your own draft number because you didn’t want to go. And none of us would ever have blamed you for that. Consider yourself lucky. Too many of the guys who see Charlie in their dreams every night sleep under the highway overpass bridges because our VA system didn’t know how to serve them, and there were no mentors to help them because the VFW and the American Legion shunned them as losers.

Luckily, your son and his fellow service members have another good liberal on their side - my senator, Jim Webb of Virginia, who is hot on the trail of another G.I. bill to extend education benefits to these people who have given their all to the cause. Senator Webb’s son is serving, as well. It doesn’t mean he’s in favor of this profiteering free-for-all, but he’s certainly going to come down on the side of those who served. And we’re not talking about those arrogant Blackwater people, either. Let Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld foot their college bills.

The responsibility of the citizens of this country is to monitor the actions of the government and hold it accountable. That’s not hate. That’s making sure Washington knows we know the score. Making a stand against the war is not hate. It’s our way of telling the politicians they can go to work at WalMart like everyone else. They do not deserve to make themselves wealthy on the backs of well-intentioned young people such as your son and the men and women with whom he served.

I’d rather see a flag burned than used to cover yet another coffin bearing the remains of the promise of our country’s future.